"I wish they'd have won it so they'd be flying a little higher right now," said Richt, who brings No. 3 Georgia to Sun Devil Stadium on Saturday. "They probably have a chip on their shoulder and will be a little tougher to match up against."

That's what Erickson hopes will happen after arguably ASU's most embarrassing loss since a 35-7 setback to New Mexico State in 1999.

On Sunday, the Sun Devils (2-1) fell from No. 15 to receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and from No. 13 to 24 in the USA Today coaches' poll.

Georgia (3-0) held up its part of what was expected to be an intersectional pairing of unbeatens with a hard-fought 14-7 win at South Carolina. The Bulldogs fell one place behind Southern California and Oklahoma in both polls.

ESPN's College GameDay, naturally, is passing on ASU vs. Georgia in favor of No. 6 Louisiana State at No. 10 Auburn. That's the least of ASU's problems, because a 2-0 start can disintegrate to 2-5 if Erickson and his staff can't find answers to a murderous schedule that after Georgia includes California, No. 1 USC and No. 17 Oregon.

"We're still a good football team," Erickson said. "We didn't play well last night, and we've got to find a way back to where we were. We've got to be more accountable, particularly mentally and assignment-wise. We made a lot of mental mistakes, and that created some physical problems."

In that 1999 loss to New Mexico, ASU did not recover and finished 6-6, losing to Wake Forest in the Aloha Bowl.

USC, of course, showed how to respond to an upset last season by overcoming a 24-23 loss at home to Stanford and winning seven of its next eight, including a 49-17 victory over Illinois in the Rose Bowl.

Which way the Sun Devils go will say something about where they are in the second year under Erickson.

The Sun Devils led 20-10 early in the third quarter and had several chances to get away with an ugly win. But they managed only five first downs and 125 total yards in the second half and seemingly were unable to react aggressively on defense to a no-huddle offense that called plays with the Rebels standing at the line of scrimmage.

"It's not like (it's) the first time seeing it, but that does cause some confusion," Erickson said. "Sometimes we have to change our calls."

"You can always second-guess yourself," Erickson said. "I'm my own worst critic, believe me. We did what they gave to us. We probably should have thrown a little more, but we were moving consistently (while) running. It's not like they were stuffing us. They were playing a lot of two-deep (coverage), which is a little harder to throw against and gives you the run."

The northbound Loop 101 will be closed between Thomas Road and Shea Boulevard from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday to remove temporary barriers, stripe lanes and perform overhead sign work. The Arizona Dept. of Transportation suggests that those leaving the ASU game Saturday night are advised to use westbound Loop 202 (Red Mountain Freeway) to northbound State Route 51 or another route, including local streets.